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Thursday, 4 May 2017

Review - 'The Flash', S03E20 - 'I Know Who You Are'

Barry's trip to the
future, in the previous episode, may not have gone quite as smoothly
as he would have hoped, but it did still provide him with one very
important piece of information – a way to trap Savitar in the Speed
Force, thanks to the theories of Tracy Brand (Anne Dudek). The only
problem, though, is that the device capable of trapping Savitar is
not actually invented for another four years, much too late to save
Iris. In the present, Tracy is still just a graduate student – one
whose theories and ideas have been dismissed as fantasy by her
professors, and who is currently considering abandoning her academic
pursuits entirely, in favour of a career as a barista.

The solution to this
current dilemma seems straight-forward enough, of course – with
Barry already in possession of the results of the future scientists
research, it becomes a simple matter of convincing the grad student
to take on the challenge of developing the technology four years
ahead of schedule. But, of course, Savitar is also aware of Tracy's
existence – and, with Killer Frost now firmly committed to
supporting the villainous speedster's plans, it becomes a race
against time to protect Tracy, so that she can develop the trap to
finally stop Savitar.

One lingering issue I
have had, throughout the third season, is that I have never been able
to understand the reasoning behind the whole 'Killer Frost'
story-line. The idea that Caitlin's powers would change her to such
an extreme extent just never made sense to me. Are we meant to assume
that the reasoning behind this whole situation is similar to what we
had with Magenta, earlier in the season, with the change being the
result of a split personality? Is it somehow related to Flashpoint,
as so many other things seem to be this season? Or, is it that her
frost-based powers really do just turn her evil (something which
seems at odds with everything else we have seen from just about every
other meta-human character)? Since we haven't been given any sort of
clear answer regarding why this is happening to Caitlin, the whole
thing has just felt a little muddled, to me.

That being said,
though, I do have to admit that Danielle Panabaker does make a very
entertaining villain. I may not have been able to understand the
reasoning behind the whole story-line – but, now that Caitlin seems
(however briefly) entirely committed to playing the part of a
super-villain, she manages to come across as both very effective, and
incredibly dangerous. The new display of her powers, that we see
here, might not be all that original (for anyone familiar with
characters like Iceman, from the X-Men
franchise, or Frozone from The Incredibles)
– but, it still serves as the basis for a visually impressive
action sequence.

This
episode would also have to be the first point at which I felt like I
actually was able to invest in the drama of the situation – with
Cisco and Julian sharing some strong scenes, as each attempted to
come to terms with what had happened. Cisco, in particular, had some
truly great moments of quiet character drama. Considering the fact
that he has known Caitlin longer than anyone else, it makes sense
that he would have the hardest time accepting this sudden change –
and, the idea that he would be so reluctant to use his own powers
against her, out of fear of hurting her, made perfect sense to me.

As
the catalyst for so much of this episode's action, Tracy Brand seems
to fit in very well. Sure, at a glance she does seem to be little
more than another variation of the very familiar 'quirky and somewhat
eccentric genius' archetype that we have already seen quite often,
but Anne Dudek does play the part very well. Also, the hints of a
possible romantic relationship adds an entertaining element to their
time together. Similarly, Joe's own romantic difficulties, as he
found himself feeling conflicted over who much of the truth to reveal
to Cecile (Danielle Nicolette), added another interesting element of
drama.

One
other lingering issue I have had with the third season, so far,
concerns the extent the which the writer's have chosen to drag out
the mystery of who Savitar really is. Given how similar it had felt
to the previous season's mystery, concerning the identity of Zoom, I
just wasn't convinced that it would prove to be anything worthwhile.
Given the circumstances, though, I suppose I can forgive the writer's
for choosing the draw things out just a little bit longer, with the
actual moment of revelation not coming until the very end of this
episode.

Of
all of the possible theories that I have seen tossed around by fans,
over the past few months, I did definitely appreciate the fact that
it was the one with the most dramatic potential which turned out to
be true. It might not have been entirely unexpected (it was, after
all, one of the many possible theories), but the reveal that Savitar
is actually some future version of Barry Allen, himself, does offer
some interesting dramatic possibilities for the next few episodes.